Saudi Arabia Prepares Hospitality Facilities to Keep Pace with New Tourism Law

(english.aawsat.com) Last August, the Saudi cabinet approved a new tourism law to boost the competitiveness of the tourism sector. 

The law is part of the system of improvements and development of the regulatory and legislative environment for the sector. 

The ministry’s follow-up comes for the purpose of measuring the extent to which hospitality facilities apply the regulations and standards of the sector. 

Besides collecting additional data, the ministry will promote serious cooperation. It is expected of facilities to provide necessary documents to visiting survey teams. 

The ministry called on hospitality establishments to provide several information. 

Most notably, it required them to inform survey teams of the extent to which they are familiar with the new tourism law and the current legislation. 

The ministry asked establishments to assess the feasibility of investment in the sector and to identify the most important obstacles with respect to licensing. 

Tourism Minister Ahmad al-Khateeb said the newly approved law comes in the line with the leadership’s orders to build a competitive tourism sector and contribute to the goals of Vision 2030. 

Khateeb indicated that since the launch of the national tourism development strategy in 2019, work has been ongoing to organize the sector. 

The Kingdom has established a ministry, an authority, a development fund, and regional councils to boost its tourism sector’s competitiveness. 

As per the new law, businesses will be given special licenses and support from the ministry, noted Khateeb, adding that the ministry will streamline licensing procedures by creating a one-stop-shop platform for all tourism stakeholders.